Through the Chunnel

My time in London was brief, rainy and cold. I stayed with a friend from San Francisco for my first night in town but due to prior engagements and schedules had to make it to a hostel for night two.

Though I managed some of my typical wandering, the cost of the tube and food was enough to keep me indoors much of the time. I have a strict mental budget and after my phone crapped out (a new phone with 10 pounds of credit was only 14 pounds!!) and I ate a basic meal, I was quickly reaching my limit.

The pace, price and left-side drivers gave me my most intense culture shock to date. I spent much of the day playing FIFA 2010 on Playstation 3. A nice relaxing day before heading to my hostel on the tube. A bite to eat, a televised football match and some chats with travelers brought me to a 10:30pm bedtime with snow flurries outside. At 2:30am I woke for the last time (many other travelers were in and out of the room through the night) and donned my excess baggage for my trip to Luton airport. When buying my ticket for the tube earlier in the day, I was told that I could use it all day, up through 3am. With my trip planned, I walked past many boisterous, stumblingly drunk groups on my way to the closed station. Panicked, I took a taxi through the snow to a bus station, hoping to make it in time for my 6am flight.

I arrived at the station and was told that no buses went from there to Luton. I was assured that no buses were going to Luton and that no flights were leaving Luton. I was sitting on the bus terminal floor at 3am with no idea how I would get to Paris. Some calls and texts home calmed me and as I ran out of phone credit, I found that I could get a 10 hour bus to Paris at 9am.

Rather than sit idle, I walked to the ATM and the Victoria Station in order to check my options. Lugging my bags, I walked through the early morning snow (still pretty great for this beach dwelling Californian) and sat at the station for a while before learning my best option.

A short bus ride later, I bought an overpriced but happily purchased Eurostar ticket to Paris. Guided by the bus schedule, little sleep and my Ghana travels, I thought that the 10:17 travel time meant that my 6:55am train would arrive just after 5pm. I made the appropriate calls and was pleased to arrive in Paris just after 10:30am.

I found the hotel, dropped my luggage and lounged until my Dad arrived a few hours later. BBC news was the only English language channel and went on and on about the terrible weather hitting the UK and France.

Today, after a long walk through Paris with my Dad, he and I saw on BBC that four Eurostar trains left London and were trapped in the chunnel for up to 15 hours. Though I felt very unlucky and put out at times, I kept high spirits, good humor and in the end lucked out!

Love to all